A poster boy for Roland-Garros

In 1980, the FFT decided to entrust the creation of the Roland-Garros tournament poster to a prominent figure in the modern art world. Dreamed up by the French Tennis Federation and the Lelong Gallery, this unprecedented and daring artistic experiment would give rise to an authentic collection of artwork, a unique form of expression with regard to event communications.

Valerio Adami, a pioneering artist of the 1970s and willing poster designer, set the ball rolling by creating the first poster in a collection whose scope and popularity could not yet be predicted. The following year, Eduardo Arroyo took the reins before passing the baton to Jan Voos, Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Carlos Saura, etc.

In more than thirty years, the rules which have governed this original pairing of art and tennis have remained unchanged: choose an artist, place an order for a creation, reserve the right to refuse said work if it risks offending anyone’s political or religious beliefs or if it contains any elements that might harm the tournament, and agree not to change the creation in any way whatsoever.

Over the years, thirty-seven talented modern artists have risen to the challenge and transferred their vision of the Roland-Garros tournament onto paper. From Joan Miró (1991) to Sean Scully (2001), Arman (2002) to Juan Uslé (2014), these major artists have all contributed to an unparalleled collection, and one which continues to grow today.